I just ask an eoasy coding question and sometimes push it a bit, its really not that hard. Anyways most of the time diving deep into someones resume and asking them genuine questions about what they would d in certain technical situations or about the technical skills they have listed is enough.
Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
81–90 of 286 posts
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#82We use this process, and it has helped us hire some great developers without having to use third party staffing and headhunters: 1. Post well written job post on major job boards. 2. Immediately reply via text to every applicant (yes, we have opt in on the application) 3. Initial screening including several knock-out questions via text. Immediately let candidate know if they are not selected and why. 4. 30 minute can…
I can bring my kids in but I don't think I could tell you how they work. I've been in this industry for almost 20 years, but I don't have side projects, because, well, see above.
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, being "willing to grind" might be a good thing to target if it's a good proxy for being willing to do the work . However, I agree with the general sentiment that almost nobody is doing the research to ensure their interview process selects for the things they actually want.
I’m willing to grind if you present me with a real life problem you need solving. I’m not willing to run on a hamster wheel, it seems illogical to me.
My sentiment too. These Leetcode style websites will take an algorithm and then come up with a contorted problem that can be solved with that problem. Often the problem is not even worded precisely but people who have been wasting time on solving random problems can see the patterns apparently.
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#84We use this process, and it has helped us hire some great developers without having to use third party staffing and headhunters: 1. Post well written job post on major job boards. 2. Immediately reply via text to every applicant (yes, we have opt in on the application) 3. Initial screening including several knock-out questions via text. Immediately let candidate know if they are not selected and why. 4. 30 minute can…
So you have someone start before you've decided to hire them. This sounds incredibly sleezy.
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#85People are forgetting why companies these days do Leetcode in the first place. The initial reason why we have Leetcode today is that Google originally determined through their interview research that the smartest candidates were the ones who were best at algorithms. Google wanted to hire the smartest people, not necessarily the best coders, so that’s why their interviews were mostly algorithmic. Of course everyone st…
The problem is that it might have been true at some point but now there are resources to “learn” for interviews, so currently you will get people willing to grind. Nobody happy with their pay and job is going to grind leetcode. They could just ignore leetcode and ask puzzle problems instead to test ability.
The people who are good at algorithms are grinders. There is a tiny percentage of geniuses who don't need to grind algorithms. The rest of the people who were good at algos before leetcode became widespread were also grinders
In fact this is how you become "smart" - some talent and a lot of hard work (grind)
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#86Be the change you want to see in the world. I refuse to interview at places that are Leetcode-heavy. Never prevented me from getting 7 figures offers at FAANG-type companies. Similarly when I interview candidates, I don't ask them Leetcode questions either. I like to get a sense of whether or not a candidate can reason in semi-unknown territories and has good intuition, not if they can parrot a textbook.
Same boat. I've interviewed hundreds of engineers, using thirty minute code review kind of setup, who have proved damn good in the depth of their knowledge.
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Would you allow employees to subcontract and outsource their work? No, but I do encourage them to use the best tools possible. :-)
"Sir, there is this approach where I feed in requirements and get back results, can I use it?"
You can't fix the stupid ones no matter what hiring strategy you use.
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if this is what you meant, but to me this reads as: "I don't know anything about data structures or algorithms".
Not him but 1.) DS and Algo knowledge are way overrated in day-to-day job functions. I have yet to have to implement a single DS or Algo from those classes (they are almost always available to the framework, standard library, or language), runtime complexity has literally never once come up in my life, and the most I've ever needed to know about data structures is "which one should I use here?" and 99% of the time it…
As a different perspective: I end up writing a fair bit of code that involves data structures and algorithms. Runtime complexity does come up in my line of work, and I've definitely had to solve a couple of issues related to code being accidentally quadratic. So I do value basic Big-O analysis, and it's definitely nice to know some core data structures, especially arrays and hash tables.
But what leetcode and leetcode interviews optimize for isn't all that valuable. In the context of the job there are usually different space/time constraints than what you'll see in leetcode, and there are also integration constraints that can change/invalidate textbook approaches.
Most importantly, though, you always have more than 30-60 minutes to figure things out, and can consult whatever references you want.
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#89We use this process, and it has helped us hire some great developers without having to use third party staffing and headhunters: 1. Post well written job post on major job boards. 2. Immediately reply via text to every applicant (yes, we have opt in on the application) 3. Initial screening including several knock-out questions via text. Immediately let candidate know if they are not selected and why. 4. 30 minute can…
I can bring my kids in but I don't think I could tell you how they work. I've been in this industry for almost 20 years, but I don't have side projects, because, well, see above.
Agreed not everyone has side projects. But being asked to build something of your own interest in about half a day seems like a good alternative.
Re: Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode – Try Code Reviews Instead
#90We use this process, and it has helped us hire some great developers without having to use third party staffing and headhunters: 1. Post well written job post on major job boards. 2. Immediately reply via text to every applicant (yes, we have opt in on the application) 3. Initial screening including several knock-out questions via text. Immediately let candidate know if they are not selected and why. 4. 30 minute can…
It's great that you quickly notify candidates if they aren't a fit! Wish more people did that.
But....
>Bring a side project, show us how it works.
What do you do if someone doesn't have a side project (or want their side project to be reviewed by someone they don't know)?
Some people code to live, not live to code.